O.C. Open Spaces Will Be Closed for Fire Season

Thousands of acres of open space will be closed to the public starting Monday as Orange County’s fire season officially begins.

The annual closure of 180,000 acres, which this year comes despite an unusually wet winter, puts many natural wilderness areas off limits to walkers, hikers and campers, fire officials said.

Rather than lessening the likelihood of wildfires, the heavy rains helped weeds and grasses grow tall enough to “become the tinder that gets everything else going,” Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Stephen Miller said.

“We could have more intense, faster burning fires,” he said.

Parks and trails maintained by state and county agencies will remain open, but their use will probably be restricted according to the fire danger.

“Basically any area [where] you have large natural open land will be closed,” Miller said.

Affected areas include stretches from Brea north to the Orange-Los Angeles county line, as well as undeveloped pockets between the Cleveland National Forest and Anaheim Hills, Tustin, Orange, Irvine, Lake Forest and Coto de Caza. Green spaces along the tollways and Ortega Highway, as well as spots in San Clemente and Newport Coast and adjacent to Laguna Beach also will be closed.

These areas are declared off limits every fire season until the rains begin in the fall. Firefighters, as well as an Orange County Sheriff’s Department task force consisting of mounted officers and aircraft, will patrol the areas, which will be marked by signs.

Firefighters are asking the public to watch for possible wildfires.

“If people see somebody in an area they think shouldn’t be there or looks suspicious, they should report that to the police right away,” Miller said. “We want to ‘stop the start’ as we call it -- prevent the fire from getting started.”

Homeowners living near natural vegetation are advised to clear dead and flammable material within 30 feet of structures, while thinning vegetation and planting fire-resistant plants within the next 70 feet, fire officials said.